


A Balanced Meal

by coolbreezemage



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cooking, Gen, Period-Typical Racism, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28740912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbreezemage/pseuds/coolbreezemage
Summary: Annette and Dedue cook dinner for the Blue Lions. Somehow, it goes well.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic & Dedue Molinaro
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	A Balanced Meal

There was no way Dedue was going to be able to salvage the dish. He set down the spoon, pondering the catastrophic assault of flavors against his tongue. Whatever herbs Annette had dumped into the pot clashed discordantly, there was something burned and bitter under that, and it was far, far too salty. Annette stood a few paces away, wringing her hands and staring up at him in a mix of hope and embarrassment. 

“I’m sorry!” she moaned before he had a chance to speak. “I tasted the spices in the green jar before I started and they were really good, but then I added too much, so I tried to add some of the other stuff so it would even out but that just made it worse…” She buried her face in her hands. “I really messed it up, didn’t I?”

It would be unkind to confirm that, so he merely said, “We will have to start again. If you wish, I can take over.” There wasn’t enough time to remake the dish Annette had been attempting, but Dedue could find a substitute and prepare it along with the others he was working on. 

“No no no!” Annette insisted. “I won’t make you do my work! I want to do it right.” She lifted her head and drew herself up - it didn’t do a great deal to make her taller, but Dedue found he liked the confidence in her eyes. Even if it usually signaled chaos ahead. She ran into disaster after disaster, but she didn’t let any of them discourage her from trying again. 

Dedue nodded. “Then at least let me guide you.”

“Aww, I wanted to do it myself.” Annette shook her head in dismay, then brightened again. “But that’s probably a good idea. What do you need?”

The poultry stew wasn’t an option anymore, so Dedue decided a noodle dish would be the best choice to prepare in time for the Blue Lions’ meal. He set Annette to boiling a pot of water and chopping some vegetables while he went to retrieve a slab of cured meat from the cellar. Hopefully those were tasks that even her tendency to be both distracted and unlucky couldn’t ruin. 

“And I’ll try to stay focused, like you taught me!” Annette promised. Dedue wasn’t going to hold her to it, but he liked the attempt.

“Good. I will be back shortly.”

He headed down into one chamber of the monastery’s magically-chilled cellars. He wasn’t alone. There was a monk standing in the middle of the room, noting counts of supplies into a thick ledger. Dedue tensed, but continued forward.

The man turned to look at him, startled, and went back to his work. Maybe Dedue would be fortunate today.

He unhooked a strip of pork from the rafters and headed back up. And then he heard footsteps behind him. The monk with the ledger book had followed him back to the kitchen.

“What are you doing with that?” the monk demanded.

Dedue turned to face him. “We are cooking for the Blue Lions class,” he said, as respectful as he could. “There was a mishap which required us to obtain more ingredients.”

Annette giggled. “Yeah, that was me… I’m sorry!”

The monk studied them both with suspicion. Dedue resigned himself to facing his judgement, no matter how unjust it might be.

Finally the monk made his decision. “Very well. But avoid further waste in future.” That was especially infuriating, because Dedue always sought to avoid wastefulness, whether or not his efforts were understood or appreciated. 

With that, the monk lifted his chin and strode away.

Annette glared after him. “Some people are so rude! It’s like they don’t know you’re the best chef in the class.”

Dedue didn’t have the heart to tell her how often things like this happened to him. “We should continue our work so we can finish before our classmates arrive,” he said.

Annette resumed chopping, this time with a heavy, angry rhythm to her cuts. “I want to do something about it!”

Dedue sighed to himself. “You do not need to involve yourself.”

“Someone should!” She wasn’t going to let go of the topic, that much was clear. Again, it was something he admired about her, even though it had led her into trouble countless times. “What would His Highness say? He’d never allow this.”

Dedue shook his head. “Please do not tell His Highness.”

“He should know!” Annette insisted.

“He has enough on his mind.” And the sort of justice Dedue sought would not be achieved by scolding (or more likely from Dimitri, threatening) one unpleasant monk. No matter how fulfilling it might be to witness the fool turn pale at the prince’s words. 

He wanted to be appreciated for his skills, not because people were frightened by him, or frightened by others on his behalf. 

“We should continue if we want the meal to be ready on time,” he said, putting an end to the discussion. 

Annette sighed. “All right.” Then she drew herself up and faced the stove with eyes glowing with determined energy. “We can do this!” 

“Yes,” Dedue agreed, letting himself smile just a little. “But you must pay attention to what you are doing.”

“I know! I’ll try!”

It wasn’t too hard to tell when Annette was up to something. However she tried to hide it, she all but sparkled with excitement when she had a plan in her head, and it made her even more prone to distraction.

He was even more suspicious when she ran off for a few minutes just before they finished, claiming she needed to change her clothes because they were dirty. Apart from a few barely-noticeable stains on her sleeves, she’d survived the whole thing remarkably unscathed, mostly thanks to the apron Dedue insisted she use. 

But somehow they made it through the rest of the recipe without any disasters, and by the time the students started filing into the dining hall from the library and training hall, they were ready with a brimming pot of noodle soup and two baskets of nearly-perfect buns still warm from the oven.

The kitchen staff came in to help with serving, letting Dedue free to eat with his class. He wondered who would show up. Ingrid, Sylvain, and Ashe would be ready with the bell. They never delayed when there was something delicious to eat. Mercedes and Felix would come in a little later, depending on how distracted they were with their work. But Dedue knew from experience that Dimitri probably wouldn’t join them. Dedue would have to find him later and convince him to leave the training hall or the library long enough to eat. 

So when he walked into the dining hall with a pot of soup in his hands and one of the bread baskets hooked on his arm, he wasn’t expecting to see all the Blue Lions assembled there at their table, Dimitri among them. Annette smiled up at him and gave a little wave. For a moment he worried she had told their classmates something of what had happened in the store cellar, but the looks on their faces spoke only of anticipation and delight, not anger or protection.

“Oh, that smells amazing!” Ingrid all but moaned. “Don’t keep us waiting!” She held out her bowl. Dedue ladled soup into it, making sure to give her a hearty portion of the meat, then went on to serve the rest. Annette snagged the bread basket and started passing around buns. If Dedue had had his choice, he would’ve served His Highness first, but Dimitri waited patiently until the others were done before holding out his own bowl. And Dedue didn’t miss him pushing the basket back towards Ashe when Ashe tried to offer him the last piece. 

Mercedes smiled up at him. “This is wonderful, Dedue! Thank you.”

“Yeah!” Sylvain added through a hearty mouthful of bread and meat, “Remind me to swap cooking duty with you more often if it means meals like this.”

Dimitri frowned at him. “You should complete your assignments as they’re given, Sylvain.” 

Sylvain rolled his eyes. “Sure, sure, there’s no need to get like that. Everything the Professor wanted to get done got done. I count that a success.” 

Dimitri clearly wasn’t satisfied with that, but he let the matter drop.

“I thank you for the praise,” Dedue said. He wasn’t used to this. Usually, he’d count going unnoticed as a success. It was strange to be so seen and acknowledged, let alone appreciated by someone other than His Highness. “I did not do it alone. Annette worked with me.”

A small cheer rose up. Annette blushed.

“Well done!” Mercedes said.

“Aw, Mercie!” Annette giggled. “I nearly ruined it!”

“Perhaps,” Dedue said, “but you are improving, and that is what is important.” 

“I couldn’t do it without you teaching me!” Annette insisted.

Sylvain leaned forward. “Could I get in on these lessons?” Beside him, Ashe’s face lit up in interest. 

“You, cooking?” Ingrid teased, eyeing Sylvain with a doubtful expression. She ladled more soup into her bowl. “I don’t know if I believe that.”

He pointed his spoon at her. “Hey now, I have a lot of talents you don’t know about!” 

Dedue resisted a smile. “I will consider it,” he said. 

They continued, trading jokes and chatter, until the last drops had been scraped from the pot and there were only crumbs left in the basket. Dedue stayed quiet for most of it, letting the others’ cheer wash over him, and pondered the warm feeling in his chest. For perhaps the first time, he felt like he belonged here at this table as one of the Blue Lions.

That feeling lingered after the others had gathered up their bowls and left, with Ashe, Mercedes, and Sylvain heading to the library to study and read, and Dimitri, Ingrid, and Felix off to the training grounds yet again. 

Annette stayed behind, wiggling every so slightly in her seat and absolutely failing to hide a smile. 

“Did you like it?” she asked.

Dedue nodded. “I did. Thank you.” 

She jumped up and started to help him clean. She almost dipped her skirt in another stain when she leaned over the table to swipe some crumbs into a napkin. 

Dedue shook his head. “You do not need to stay,” he told her.

“No, I want to help! My mom always says you have to clean up after you cook. I know I’m not great at either of those things, but I want to learn!” 

He looked at her, at her earnest energy and honest friendship. And he knew what his answer would be.

“I will be pleased to teach you.”


End file.
